Climate Action 2010-2011

Ecosystem based adaptation
Figure 4: Many atoll islands are important tourist destinations and places of
great natural beauty (Maldives).
Japanese island of Okinotorishima at a cost of 29.3
billion yen (approximately US$360 million).
For small island states, the problem is securing the
financial resources necessary to implement such costly
schemes. As the IPCC identifies; “the costs of overall
infrastructure and settlement protection are a significant
proportion of GDP and well beyond the financial means
of most small island states”. Even in the hypothetical
situation where enough financial resources were
available, defence work could create a situation where
islands end up being lower than the surrounding sea,
similar to the low-lying polders surrounded by dykes in
the Netherlands.
However, the hypothetical ‘polder-like’ atoll island
would end up, even in a best-case scenario, a barren piece
of land due to the high salinity of the water beneath it.
More likely, water would seep under the defence works
due to the pressure differential and inundate the area
behind it, requiring expensive ground improvement
works and constant pumping. Coastal defences are also
vulnerable to damage. Figure 1 illustrates the case of
Samoa, a string of tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Although not atolls, the islands also suffer from the
problem of coastal erosion. Generally this is a problem
that affects all tropical islands, and the economic
benefits of having a resilient, ‘living’ coast are clear. An
artificial barrier will require constant reconstruction and
maintenance, whereas a healthy coral reef will rebuild
itself and greatly reduce the maintenance effort required
by coastal communities. Ecosystem adaptation measures
are therefore likely to be superior to human engineering
solutions, particularly in cost, and should be prioritised.
Ecosystem destruction and community
relocation
Ultimately, if the adaptation measures described above
fail, it will be necessary to relocate island communities.
However, if all the islands that presently form one of these
archipelagic atoll countries are completely submerged, their
citizens would lose their nationality as, under conventional
international law, a state is required to possess a defined
territory. In addition, refugee law would not apply to these
people since they do not fulfil the conditions to become
refugees. The Refugee Convention defines refugees as
people who are outside their country of origin with a
well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race,
religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of
a particular social group. Nevertheless, certain protective
measures could be applied, such as the principle that no
one should be sent back to their home countries to suffer
persecution.
Thinking about all of these consequences can be
considered alarmist. However, it is clear that there is the
potential for them to happen and that there is a moral
imperative for those who are most responsible for the
causes of climate change to address the consequences.
In this case, ensuring the survival of local ecosystems is
probably the best way to prevent the disappearance of
these islands and their populations. However, this will
no doubt require much research, ingenuity and local
action to preserve and help the coral reefs adapt to the
new environmental conditions forced upon them. The
alternative would be not only for whole cultures to be
lost, but also for countries to have to start dealing with
influxes of climate-change induced migrants from all
over the planet.
The photographs used in this report were originally taken by
Sergio Fernandez, Gloria Caramanzana, Tomoya Shibayama
and Hiroshi Takagi. Their permission to use them is kindly
acknowledged.
Lilian Yamamoto is a Researcher at Kanagawa
University in Japan, studying about humanitarian law,
refugees and the protection of indigenous people. Her other
research interests relate to the effects of sea-level rise on the
sovereignty of low-lying coastal areas and exceptions to
the principle of non-retroactivity in international law.
Miguel Esteban is an Assistant Professor at Waseda
University in Tokyo and a visiting research fellow at the
UN University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-
IAS). His research examines the effect of climate change
on natural disasters, the construction of breakwaters and
coastal zone management and disaster prevention.
UNU-IAS is among the newest in a network of research
and training centres within the UNU system. The
Institute is dedicated to identifying, developing and
implementing solutions for a more sustainable world.
Lilian Yamamoto
Kanagawa University
Kanagawa-ku, Rokkakubashi 3-27-1
Building 17, room 36
Yokohama, Japan
Tel: +81 080 4125 0404
Email: liuka1980@hotmail.com
Miguel Esteban, Assistant Professor
Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ookubo, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo T169-8555, Japan
Tel: +81 (0)3 5286 2358
Email: esteban.fagan@gmail.com
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